The Ember Island Shiprwreck
by clockworkchaos
Summary: All the stories ideas that never made it. A series of one-shots.
1. Chapter 1

Since the computer I keep my last Firebender stuff save on has been "2 weeks" from getting repaired for the last month and a half I've decided to kill some time with some drabbles.

I'm starting with a series of drabbles based on various project I'd like to do but haven't' had time for (and probably never will) or projects I thought about but abandoned.

_  
__11/10/25_

_People have an immense capacity for self deception. I think the biggest example of this is the war. The entire thing is a joke. We claim to be fostering culture on the earth kingdom. What fools. Do people not know that half the plays we treasure came from the earth kingdom, and half that didn't were written by playwrights trained by them? The largest library in the world was contained in the northern Air Temple, and my great-grandfather burt it like a fool!_

_At least those who claim "progress", having some merit to their argument, but even they willfully deceive themselves. Has a single factory sprouted up in the Earth Kingdom? For that matter has a single factory sprouted anywhere been dedicated to anything but war machines? We build the factories to make the machines to conqueror, to make more factories, yet with no ultimate goal in sight. _

_Perhaps the argument I respect the best is the Fire Nation's need of resources, at least they are honest. Yet even there the war fails its goals. In order to maintain order, earthbending has been outlawed. Oh they dressed it up in nice terms, as a "barbaric art detrimental to progress" but anyone with an ounce of sense knows what really going on. Yet earthbending is the very art best equipped for mining, even our experimental drill can't begin to match a single earthbender._

_When the Fire Nation was began its transformation the invasion and colonies were launched to avoid having to pay for the materials we would need in a large industry. Yet those fools never realized there is no such thing as a free meal. We get the metal as "taxes" freely. Yet we pay for it. Our entire economy is dedicated to war, we pay in the factories dedicated to tanks and ships, we pay in the potential geniuses sent to the coal mines, we pay in the loss of our culture, and we pay in blood._

_Though I supposed I should not solely blame the Fire Nation. The idiots in the other kingdoms deserve a measure to. The Air Nomads so willfully blinded themselves that they thought pacifism was a viable philosophy, without realizing their fortress keeping them from the outside world were no longer safe. Sometimes I almost feel they deserved to die for letting themselves be killed so easily, not even fighting back._

_And the earth kingdom and Water Tribes! For one-hundred years they have been slowly losing ground. For one hundred years they have lost, and yet they refuse to change. The Northern Water Tribe and Ba Sing Se put their fingers in their ears and close their eyes, thinking they can ignore the entire conflict, it will be someone else's problem. Meanwhile the other area continue to use ancient tactics, not even trying to replicate the tactics and machines that lead to their defeat. Again, some days I just want to let them die for that idiocy._

_But the worst is EVERYONE, everyone, on all sides of the conflict still have hope. They still think things will work out. Solider grunts thinking they will survive and be honored. Civilians thinking they will be protected. Earth kings thinking they can hold on. And the idiotic Fire nation civilians thinking that things will ever get better. No the only people who will benefit from this war are the generals and Fire Lord. For everyone else this war will crush them. I've seen the future, it's a boot, stamping on a human face, forever._

_And yet here I stand, perhaps the worst of all. I think I can change things. I think I can save the world. What arrogance! What pride! Perfect for a princess, I am certainly my father's daughter. _

_I've come to the conclusion my first plan isn't viable. Even if I killed father, Zuko would take the throne, and he's just as brutal. While I could try to do the same thing as father, Zuko isn't like my fat, useless, lump of an uncle. He would fight my take-over, and given he leads the army, there is a good chance he's win._

_So I've come up with a different idea, I've decided to finally make people's delusions work for me. Perhaps one of the biggest delusions of all is the Avatar. The idea of some supernatural god judging men, forcing peace. They are fools, even if the Avatar existed (and I'm not sure of that) he is long dead, killed at the air temple, once and for all. _

_Yet people still believe, even my father, his worst enemy, sends out ships to look. And the earth kingdom, if even a hint of the Avatar were to reach them it would rally many. It would not be hard for the Avatar to get them to fight as one, to actually change their tactics to properly counter the Fire Nations. Especially if that "Avatar" had data from one of the most knowledgeable person in the Fire Nation._

_I've even found the perfect canadit. Once again thanks to willful self-deception. The Southern Raiders claimed to have killed the last Waterbender in the South Pole, yet if one read the reports with a critical eyes, instead of one wanting glory or to transfer me out of that theater of war, the real picture emerges. The raiders were tipped off after reports of a chieftain looking for a waterbending master. They rightly concluded that he was looking for someone to train another waterbender. Yet the supposed waterbender was a mother. Do these people ever think! If the waterbender was really a mother she would have been looking for training years ago, not now. Furthermore the same reports state that there was a kid, if any of them thought for even half a second what really happened would be obvious._

_So I will find this waterbender, I can offer her fame, glory and a chance at training. Her lack of training will explain away her lack of powers. Furthermore, when the Fire princess becomes desperate to capture this "Avatar" it will only confirm her identity in people's minds. I will also need to find a discrete earthbender to help "train" her. Some smart enough to understand the importance of what going on, and discrete enough people won't notice them moving she the "avatar" is earthbending. After that I will formally defect and "train" her in Firebending. With a symbol to rally behind, a forward thinking mentality and knowledge of the Fire Nations capabilities and tactics, the Fire Nation army should be stoppable. _

_There are only two flaws in the plan. The first is the explanation of the time gap, but given people capabilities for self-deception in other areas I'm sure people will come up with theories to explain it away. The other is that no-body can do airbending from behind the scenes to help her fake that, but that's even easier to explain away, she simply has no trainers so she can't learn._

_I've already started my plan, using father's own beliefs about me against him. Formally requesting to have a ship to search for the Avatar. He thinks I'm trying to win his love and respect…. The fool._

Azula stopped writing; slowly she put down her pen. She gave a slight sigh and then tore the pages she'd written on out of the diary, holding this in her hand. A second later they burst into flame. After they had burnt completely, she blew the ashes away and began writing again.

_11/10/25_

_Father has approved my request to find the Avatar. I hope I can properly prove myself. To gain honor just as my brother has done. I will not fail him. _

So this drabble is actually based on the original incarnation of "Last Firebender" (long before it even had a title). Unlike what I eventually went with, this one's only difference was making Azula good and Zuko evil with little change to the world at large. The bigger AU came at the suggestion of another poster on a different board (not including links, cause that thread had huge spoilers for the plot).


	2. Chapter 2

A drabble I created for a collaborative AU discussion thread on another forum. Since it is quite firmly dead at this point, I figure I can share it. If you're curious about the setting, feel free to ask.

OoOoOo

It was the perfect ambush, though the Schemer was not here physically, it was obvious he organized it. Azula was half sunk in quicksand, leaving her firebending useless, while Toph and Zuko was held in a globe of ice, with two waterbenders reinforcing it in order to prevent her from using firebending to escape. The only reason Aang hadn't been caught was the Schemer hadn't heard of him. Now the others could only watch helplessly as several Water tribesmen, benders and non-benders alike, surrounded him. The small monk held up his hands and gave a giant smile. "Hey guys, I'm sure we can work this out. Let's sit down and talk. Look, I've got cakes!" He produced two pastry cake from somewhere in his robes.

One of the men laughed. "So the little blind Avatar has a little bald monk. Oh don't worry; we'll work this out just fine." He bounced his club off his hand.

Aang looked relieved. "Really? That's great! Cause for a second there I thought you might want to fi-" The first man lurched forward, attempting to bash Aang with his club. Aang nimbly dodged past him and stuck his staff into the man's back. The warrior howled with pain. When Aang pulled it out again the staff spouted metal spike at the end, coated with blood.

The rest of the group roared and charged Aang. Before they could land a finger on him Aang jumped into the air. He reached into his robes and released a bright yellow dust into the area. More screams were heard as it touched exposed flesh. Before he could make it back to earth, one of the benders caught his foot with a water whip and pulled him back to the ground. Only split second timing allowed him to land feet first.

Without pausing he pulled out several marbles. "Hey guys!" He happily shouted to Zuko and Azula. "Watch this!" Aang proceeded to create a small vortex with the marbles, spinning them rapidly with both hands. For a second the pace of combat stopped, as everyone tried to figure out what he was doing. Then one of the swordswomen charged him. Aang swung his hand is a wide arc, releasing the marbles as he did so. Several struck home, piercing right through flesh and bone.

"I took out the two waterbenders holding you so you should be able to free yourself." Aang cheerfully informed Toph. Zuko looked to both sides, Aang had indeed "taken out" both of them. One had took a marble straight to the chest and was gushing blood, the other had had his hand reduced to bloody pulp. It was lucky Toph couldn't see what was going on, otherwise she likely wouldn't have been able to concentrate on melting the ice.

Aang continued to fight, using Air Bending to keep away from the main group while slowly wilting down their numbers. His favored choice of targets were the other benders. Some he would simply stab, some he would bend into trees but, most he dispatched using a variety of unique methods.

Within minutes, the tide had completely turned. Toph was nearly free of the ice, and only a few remained. Just as it was almost over Azula found herself being lifted out of the quicksand by a overmuscled arm. The man held a sword to her neck. "Don't try anything else, or I'l kil---" The man stopped, making a horrible chocking noise before falling to the ground. Azula suppressed and involuntary shutter.

"Don't worry." Aang said helpfully. "He's not dead. I was best in my class at airbending. But wow, that was intense, is that what you guys have to deal with on a daily basis? No wonder the Water Tribe is so tough."

"No, that, that was the Schemer." Try as she might, Azula couldn't regain her composure. Every time she thought she might, another vision of Aang cheerfully maiming someone flew through her head.

"Oh, right! Him. Where was he- Hey, I see a flash on that mountain, I bet that's him looking through a telescope! Let me go get him."

"What are you doing, you can't just face him alone! Aang! Get back here!" Azula yelled.

For the next several minutes nothing happened, though the group unanimously decided to move away from the bleeding, crying men. Finally, after what seemed forever an explosion came from the mountain side, followed by the distinct rumble of an avalanche.

"Do you think he…"

About a minute later Aang came back, running as fast as his Airbending could take him, and yelling at the top of his lungs."AHHHHHHHH!" As he saw the group he began to stop. "Pheh, you guys were right when you said he was crazy. First I tried to choke him, and it worked pretty well, he was all AAGH and stuff. He tried the boomerang, but I easily blew it away. But then the boomerang curved and hit some metal which sent off sparks which blew up these barrels of blasting jelly and started the avalanche. I don't think he survived but like Gyatso always said, if you don't see the body, he probably isn't dead. Oh well. Want to go watersliding?"

The rest of the group just stared at him.

Aang threw up his hands. "Cmon guys, why are you always like this? The surface world is fun. But you're all, 'no you must be absolutely serious'. Look I saw a river that goes along the rocks, it would make a perfect slide. Besides, it would help wash off the blood so Azula won't be cranky about getting things dirty. You know you want to."

OoOoOo

I think this may be in the running for "most disturbing Aang ever". If not, I'm really curious what would top this.


	3. Chapter 3

This drabble was a convergence of two events. First a drabble contest I participate in, and secondly an AU prompt by Lavanya six. The rules of the contest were as follows

**Hypocrisy**

"Hypocrisy is the act of persistently professing beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that are inconsistent with one's actions. Hypocrisy is thus a kind of lie."

Although it can be considered a victimless 'crime', many people feel that hypocrisy is one of the worst flaws a person can have. People can respect those with different opinions, even those they consider enemies, but a hypocrite is considered the lowest of the low. A person who can even live by their own beliefs is a person with no strength at all. At the same time, it can be used in some pretty funny gags; if humor is based on the unexpected, a hypocrite is a great source of sudden reversals.

**Show, Don't Tell**- It's so much powerful to see it action, but exposition can be used to strengthen it, or for a series of lesser hypocrisies.

**Creativity**- Don't fall back on the obvious like I always do.

OoOoO

Even when she was young Lao knew something was wrong with his daughter. He didn't notice right when she was born, then she seemed fine; healthy, strong, energetic. Oh so energetic, when she first cried Lao thought the sound might reach Ba Sing Se.

But then… something went wrong. He didn't know what it was. She didn't seem sick, she could babble just fine, and began to crawl at the right age. But in other ways… she seemed wrong. She quickly lost interest in her parent's faces, content to just lie there. And she would often fail to sense her parents until they got close, far closer than they should have. And whenever she did hear a sound, she would always turn to face it, as if she had trouble, but Lao had never heard of a deficiency which required someone to face forward to hear.

If it was just dull senses Lao might not have worried too much. But it was more than that. Sometimes she would just…. sit still, facing something and doing nothing. Or focus on unmoving objects. Or show fear at night or in closed rooms. And yet at other times she would be very aware, once Lao had been pouring over a book, he had been sure he had barely made a sound, and he had just taken a bath yet when Toph had gotten up from her nap she had crawled right to him.

He took her to several doctors, but none of them could hope to offer an explanation. Some suggested she was affected by the food, or prescribe various herbs and treatments, but none worked and Toph only grew to hate them.

It only got worse when she began airbending and talking. Her airbending was absolutely hopeless, she could barely sense the thickest of breezes, and tracking any movement was a lost cause, but the talking was far worse. The least worrisome part was that her face was unusually sensitive. She would claim that it hurt to face the sun, and when another child blew dust into her face by airbending, she screamed bloody murder. She would often sense things that weren't there, such claiming that identical blocks were different, or talking about a smaller sun that came out at night, but only sometimes. For a while Lao was worried she was touched in the head. And yet again sometimes she seemed impossibly perceptive. Identifying injured war veterans without ever having meant them before, able to tell a man's clothes from several feet away (not impossible, Lao had heard airbending master could do it, but Toph was certainly no master), finding lost objects. It was like she was spirit touched.

Finally, after many years Lao found a doctor who had help, one who had journeyed all the way to the North, and (or so it was rumored) even in to the lands of the Fire Nation itself. When the examination began, Toph was as willful as ever, and even Lao himself had to admit he was more hopeful than any of the others. Asking if she had any weakness, her diet, and a dozen other causes they had tried and failed. But then, instead of prescribing another useless herb, he did something unusual. He pulled out three identical blocks, and asked Toph to tell him which one was different. Toph did so. At once, Lao's heart jumped. This was the exact symptoms she has show. Next he had Lao take her into another room, and when they came back he asked her to find the block. At this point even Toph was cooperative; this doctor knew what he was doing. After a few more tests he sent Toph out of the room.

"Do you know what's wrong with my daughter? Is she sick? Touched in the head? What is it?"

The doctor hesitated for a moment, pacing back and forth before finally answering. "No, your daughter is not sick. Nor touched. I believe… and you must understand I can't be sure, I've never heard to it happening before. But I believe she has sight."

"Sight?"

"It is a sense, that the -"

"I know what is it." Lao snapped. Which wasn't exactly true, he had heard veterans talking about it, it was some extra sense the Firebenders had. "How.. how is this possible? Could…no, I know there were not Fire Nation in our town, and Poppy was here the whole time."

The doctor again hesitated. "…. Sight… is not only possessed by the Fire Nation, the water tribes have it as well. And I'm given to understand so did the Earth Nomads."

Lao shook his head. "No, she wouldn't. Besides, there were no tribesmen nine months ago either."

"Then I cannot tell you why or how, only that it is."

"What.. what does this mean. If it is merely sight, then why can she not hear, why can she not smell?"

"Again, this is not my area of expertise. But from what I understand, having talked with those who can see. Sight is an overpowering sense, it dominates the others, and if you have it all other senses diminish in importance. A person can only focus on so much, and sight demands focus more than any other sense.."

Lao hesitate before asking one final question. "Can… can she be cured?"

"I don't know." The doctor answered sadly. "It would be trivial to remove her sight. Though complications might arise. However, she has developed with it, even if it were now removed, I'm not sure her other senses could adjust."

"Thank you." Lao replied sadly. The next day he paid the doctor well, and began to seek out any information on sight, or people from other nations, he could find. Over the next few nights his fingers poured over the books. Some of it was interesting. Some was trivial, such as the smaller sun being called the moon, a sun with no heat, only sensed by sight, yet it controlled the tides. But what he found about sight disturbed him,is was so… limited. It could only sense it one direction, it was trivially easy to sneak up on someone. How could anyone live like that, in such small, narrow world, it filled him with pity. Tales of clever Airbenders sneaking up on foolish Fire Nation soldiers that had once amused him now filled him with horror. His daughter was so crippled. Not only that, but her airbending- Sound and smell were senses of the air carry through it and manipulated by it, but sight… wasn't. No amount of pure airbending could stop it, you had to use Earth or Fire or water to block it. Sight… may have been right for them, but for an airbender? It wasn't safe, without understanding the delicate currents of the air, how could she possibly avoid hurting herself with it?

She was so vulnerable, Lao was tempted to try stop it anyways and hope for the best. But the books also mentioned how delicate the eyes were. A single blow could leave a man howling in pain or even him if applied right. It explained why his daughter's face had always been so sensitive. Removing, or damaging them, might kill her. From that night on Lao vowed to keep his daughter safe. To protect her from the dangers of the world and from her danger to herself that she would never notice because of her narrow perception.

OoOooO

Original promopt

There are several AtLA AUs that flip the morality of the Water Tribe and Fire Nation, but what about the Air Nomads and the Earth Kingdom? What would a world look like where_they_ were the ones swapped around?

* The Earth Nomads - the smallest of the Four Nations, they were a simple people dedicated to spiritual pursuits. Modeling themselves on the unchanging Earth itself, they lived in reclusive strongholds on the world's four tallest mountains, leaving only to walk the Earth in the aid of others. A hundred years ago, they were wiped out by the Fire Nation... save for one boy.

* The Air Kingdom - The largest of the Four Nations, and the most particular. Every single resident of the Air Kingdom, from Kyoshi Island in the south to Ba Sing Se in the north to Omashu in the west, is born blind. This has not stopped them from resisting the Fire Nation for almost a century, for the people of the Air Kingdom have an almost supernatural reputation for the strength of their remaining four senses. Soldiers of the Fire Nation have learned to fear the night, when Air Kingdom warriors can slaughter them with nary a sound.

Those among them who are born as airbenders are among the most fearsome warriors in the world, complementing their already extraordinary senses of hearing and smell with mastery of the winds. To earn the wrath of an airbender is to know what it is like to be hunted as an animal. With their intimate awareness of air currents, airbenders are almost impossible to defeat in one-on-one melee combat. Working together, armies of airbenders can turn back their foes with hurricane force winds, pushing their enemy's flames back at them.

But the Fire Nation has had a century to refine their own techniques to combat blind airbenders, among them confusing their senses with smokescreens and thunderbending (low-level lightning bending designed to produce more sound than sparks), and now the Air Kingdom is losing ground.

_Into this world step two people..._

* Toph Bei Fong, the world's only seeing airbender. Born into a nation of the blind, Toph is looked down on by her countrymen for her dull senses. Her parents have sheltered her for her whole life, afraid that without understanding the delicate ebbs and flows of air she will hurt herself with her bending. But by secretly befriending the reclusive and untameable sky-bisons, Toph has developed unique airbending techniques like super speed, mini-tornados... and gliding.

* Avatar Aang, the last earthbender, and his house-sized badgermole Appa. Found by Toph during a trip to a dormant volcano to visit a sky-bison nest, Aang has spent the last century hibernating inside a sphere of volcanic glass to escape an erupting volcano.

Together they will walk across (and under!) the world to save it from the Fire Nation... assuming they don't kill each other first.


End file.
